I actually got that for him at NHC last year. There was a guy, Princeton homebrew supply maybe? they were giving out skeeter pee and selling these cool little mash paddles. He always wants to help mash in so it seemed a natural gift. A good friend of mine made my mash paddle for Christmas last year.

Cool. I remember them. So, I guess everything he makes is a small beer.

I've always thought someone should invent a siphon starter (who writes syphon anyway? Oh, that was me). It would be two flat wheels in a frame that clamp over the flexible tube so that they flatten the tube between the wheels. You put it on at the top near the racking cane and pull it to the bottom. As the flat part moves to the bottom, it will pull liquid with it - much like a peristaltic pump. It should make siphon starting pretty easy.

Am I right in thinking that as long as the interior volume of tubeing/bottling want below the elbow of the racking cane is greater than the volume of the cane + a little I should still be able to start a syphon by filling that portion with star san right?

Am I way over thinking this?

Yes to overthinking. As long as the syphon outlet is lower than the syphon inlet, it will work. It doesn't matter how high the bend is or what the inside volumes are.

I have a racking cane that I cut down for gallon jugs.

Okay, I was going to argue about it not mattering but I realized you were right before typing it out. the only thing that matters is that the volume of star san is greater than the volume of AIR between the surface of the beer and the top of the bend. Otherwise the star san would exit before the beer made it over the hump and no syphon would form.

Actually, if it only makes it over the hump, it will flow back into the jug. The beer needs to make it over the bend and below the surface level of beer in the jug before the syphon starts.

I whirlpool by stirring with a long spoon for a few minutes. Then letting it sit for 10. It seems most of the settling happens in the 10 minutes when the liquid is swirling slowly. Maybe the speed is too high and keeps kicking up trub? Or maybe the liquid movement is too irregular when using a spoon?

According to their website, the extract cans are manufactured by Coopers. I really with it wasn't pre-hopped extract, but for Classic American Light I guess you don't need much hop aroma anyway. That they sell pre-hopped northwest pale and IPA kits blows my mind. And let's not even talk about the lagers.

Am I right in thinking that as long as the interior volume of tubeing/bottling want below the elbow of the racking cane is greater than the volume of the cane + a little I should still be able to start a syphon by filling that portion with star san right?

Am I way over thinking this?

Yes to overthinking. As long as the syphon outlet is lower than the syphon inlet, it will work. It doesn't matter how high the bend is or what the inside volumes are.

I have a counterflow chiller and keep thinking about buying an immersion chiller. It's just easier to sanitize.

What size is enough depends a lot of flow rate and water temperature. My CFC is really convenient when the water is 60F, difficult when it's 85F. Of course, the same is true with an immersion chiller. But at least with immersion you have the option of leaving it in longer. I sometimes have the wort slowed down to a trickle and it's still not enough.

No really. We were at Goodwill and they had a Mr Beer kit. I've heard from so many that this was their first homebrew and it was horrible. I checked and the extract has a year before the use by date, and it was only $5. I thought it would be fun to see what two experienced homebrewers get out of one of these kits. Anyone else try a Mr Beer kit lately?

I tried Chrome and it worked. I'm using IE version 11, which I just installed last Friday. So I tried enabling compatibility view and then it worked fine, so it's a problem with the new browser version.

Anyone having trouble logging in the morning (main site, not forum ... obviously that's working). I'm trying to get on eZymurgy and the login isn't working. I enter my name, PW, click Log In, and the page does nothing at all.